The night before Hinds’ show in Mexico City, the first stop on the North American leg of their tour, vocalist and guitarist Ana García Perrote tripped on uneven pavement and broke her foot. But when she joins me for a call over Zoom just two days after, she’s all smiles—making the best of an unfortunate situation. On Oct. 21, the band is scheduled to headline Chicago’s Thalia Hall.  

“The fact that we’re friends obviously makes this so fucking fun and beautiful and safe somehow, you know, like, even the bad things,” Perrote says. Despite her injury, she still somehow looks like the coolest person ever, adopting a ’90s pop-rocker vibe—her hair held back in a black stretchy headband, with small clips on the sides, except for two stands of bangs on either side. She wears layered gold necklaces and large hoop earrings and puts on clear rectangular glasses, just to take them off a minute later.  

“After four years of waiting to do these shows and working so hard,” she said, “we had this whole thing planned where I put CC (Carlotta Cosials) on my shoulders for a guitar solo.” 

If this happened to any other band, they might have cancelled a few shows. But Perrote rolls with the punches, wearing her “astronaut boot,” and sitting down to play the keys during the show. She jokes that the boot helps her smash her guitar pedals more effectively when she does solos.  

It all speaks to the band’s resilience and makes the message of their latest album VIVA HINDS! all the more relevant. The Spanish indie-rock band spews positive energy that keeps them together, because something like a broken foot is so small compared with what they’ve already overcome together.  

After touring on their third album, The Prettiest Curse, in 2022, Hinds’ bassist and drummer abruptly left the band, which resulted in Perrote and Cosials losing their management and being dropped by their label. It created two very complicated years, where the duo was unsure what was in store for them.  

But the uneasiness really started two years earlier, when Hinds released The Prettiest Curse in the midst of the pandemic. Unable to tour, make money and further their musical careers, the band felt stuck.  

“With a bit of distance from it now, I can see that we were a bit lost,” Perrote says. “It wasn’t until fall 2022 where me and CC fully reconnected and got the excitement again. We had a bit of a vision.  

“We were brave enough to think, ‘Okay, we’re gonna make an album. We don’t have a manager, we don’t have a record deal, but we have the songs, the ideas, and especially we’re eager to do it.’” 

Friendship is at Hinds’ core. Perrote and Cosials have a relationship most people can only dream of. Because beyond their work and creative collaboration, they’re friends—they get coffee and see movies and go on holiday together. It creates a layer of intimacy you can sense in their physical chemistry and hear in the vulnerability of their songs. 

Hinds maintain a garage rock energy and guitar-driven sound, but on VIVA HINDS! the band took a leap of faith. It’s the first album they’ve recorded without a rhythm section. And they leaned more into production with the help of producer Pete Robinson. But it’s one of those albums you would guess was recorded live because it includes all the elements of dynamic instrumentation.  

It’s also the first time Hinds recorded and released full songs sung in Spanish, including Mala Vista and En Forma. It’s something that came naturally as the duo had more creative control and purpose on this project—the fear of living up to other expectations was slipping away. It brings to mind Chicago-based American Colombian rockers Divino Niño.  

Hinds are playful and full of energy, and they emanate an infectious joy that makes it impossible not to smile and dance along with them. After all they’ve been through, they’re more than happy to have the space to make and play music. On VIVA HINDS!, the band also saw notable features, including Beck on Boom Boom Back and Fontaines D.C. singer Grian Chatten on Stranger. The band maintains a spirit and upbeat production reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but like Karen O, they nourish an individual personality all their own.  

With the few times Hinds has played VIVA HINDS! live, Perrote says the new songs are smashing their older songs out of the park.  

“We had to rethink our whole setlist, and be like, ‘this used to be their favorite, but not anymore!’” Perrote says. “Even songs that you wouldn’t think would be so danceable, or like moshpit-able, like Coffee. Suddenly, people go mad when we play them live.” 

Comparing Hinds with other musicians is difficult, and it’s likely because they pull inspiration from unlikely places. In general, Perrote says, the duo gravitates toward artists like Daniel Johnston, who has a 1983 album by the same name as VIVA HINDS! first song, Hi, How Are You.  

“He was brutally honest and brutally himself, like someone that didn’t hide any of his feelings,” Perrote notes. “He’s just so simple and raw in his lyrics and in his recordings that it just really hit us because of, obviously, where we were at and what we were going through.”  

Hinds also pull inspiration from anime, films and everyday life. After watching an anime about a turtle, the duo wrote the last song on VIVA HINDS!, Bon Voyage. Perrote says it was inspired by the acceptance of conditions, when life puts you in a place you don’t want to be, but you realize it becomes a moment of growth. And after watching a movie as part of their friends’ movie club, the two wrote the bonus track Bats—pulling from an unlikely tune at the end of the film. They tried to capture that same modern, almost-electronic feel.  

“We don’t find inspiration, inspiration finds us,” Perrote says. “When we’re writing, even when we’re not, but especially when we’re writing, it feels like all of our senses are awakened. We have what we call the Super Saiyan ears, because you suddenly hear more stuff.” 

While VIVA HINDS! touches on a lot of moments of darkness for the band, Perrote says it isn’t an album about being sad or feeling sorry for yourself. Instead, it’s more about that moment when you decide to stand up after falling down—much like she has to do after her foot injury. She hopes the album can serve as a source of strength for fans. It’s also an all-out celebration of friendship and music.  

“We’re lucky enough to be a duo of writers and best friends that help each other stand up and grab me my crouches to keep walking,” Perrote laughs. “So, I hope it can be that for fans, as well.” 

Hinds are set to headline Thalia Hall with support from The Happy Return. Keep up with the band and the rest of their tour dates here.  

Start with Hinds’ song Superstar off their latest album VIVA HINDS!, and you might immediately notice catchy guitar riffs, met with duo vocals from Perrote and Cosials, almost whispering until the beat picks up. 

Pay attention to how the tension and energy consistently build throughout the song, until we hit the 1:26 mark and Hinds let this pent-up spirit burst. By the time we get to the chorus, Perrote and Cosials are screaming the words at us. 

Kendall Polidori is The Rockhound, Luckbox’s resident rock critic. Follow her reviews on Instagram and X @rockhoundlb, TikTok @rockhoundkp